Back Pain Portal Blog

Today I was looking at my ankles and realized that I have stronger ankles and better leg tone than I had 20 years ago. Since I made a commitment to self-help back care, my ankles and legs get a lot more attention than they used to. Strong ankles and legs give us mobility and balance.

Mobility is a precious gift and our little feet are where the rubber meets the road. But the ankles and legs are what make us move. The ankles and legs  need flexibility and strength to carry our weight and do fun things.

This is one reason that walking is so good for us. If you do nothing but take an extended walk regularly, your health will benefit greatly and you are protecting your mobility. I remember on a trip to Europe how hard it was at first to do all the walking. Since I wasn’t used to it at the time, my legs tired easily. As I walked more I felt better and got stronger.

Restless leg syndrome almost always benefits from exercising the legs. Extended sitting without taking a break and walking around is not good for the legs.

Here’s some easy things to do:

• Ankle circles are really great. Just move the ankles clockwise, then counter clockwise as you sit on the couch or at your desk.
• Point and flex your toes. This also builds calf muscle.
• Point your toes and then stretch the toes further with your hands.
• Bicycling on a real bike, an exercise bike, or even in the air.
• Balance on one leg at a time. You can do this while you stand in line… just ignore the stares.
• Squat and keep the heels as close to the ground as possible. This may be hard to do at first, but don’t give up.

There are many leg and ankle exercises that feel good and strengthen legs and ankles, like lunges or quad stretches.  Movement and repetition will strengthen  legs and improve balance over time.

Bottom line is to just keep the legs moving to keep grooving.

If there is one thing that I would have to say has sustained and helped me the most, it would be yoga. My real progress on bringing back pain and structural problems under my control came when I started doing yoga on a regular basis. A friend of mine who also sat at a desk all day, woke up one morning and couldn’t move. She went into total panic, jumped into surgery, and now is permanently mobility impaired. It was a wake up call for me. It was time for serious intervention.

I took stock of my habits and my chronic pain and the acute pain flareups that would put me under for days or weeks, even months at a time. I committed to counteracting my chronic bad posture habits with yoga 2-4 times a week to stretch and strengthen the muscles and connective tissue. In short order I felt an amazing difference. The weeks I did yoga, the pain subsided. If I got too busy and dropped out this gentle regular restorative exercise, I would usually lapse into chronic, then acute back pain.

Yoga stretching gives the most immediate relief. For me it is like getting a 1 hour massage.

Yoga strengthening takes longer, but it is critically important. Muscle strength is what helps to hold the structure in place. Muscles are strengthened by holding a posture, like standing on one leg, then tilting forward into the dancer pose. You just hold as long as you can, and the time keeps increasing as you get stronger. Leg strengthening really helps balance and mobility.

And last, yoga relaxation at the end of each class is a time when the mind and body settles into a moment of peace. It is incredibly refreshing.

At first some yoga postures will feel odd and may reveal a tightness that is painful. A basic yoga principle to to take it slow and always work at your own pace. You push into the discomfort, but back off the pain. So done properly, it should not be painful. I remember at first that my feet and ankles would restrict certain movement. Those things totally worked out over time. But I am still always pushing into my own places of discomfort to release the tightness.

I recommend going to a class where you can just follow and learn. At my health club, I can go to all the yoga I want. The classes make it fun and keeps it simple. You will find different yoga styles and different teachers, so just find one you like and make sure it is a time you can look forward to .

I found a good overview of yoga at the link below. I hope you’ll check it out and consider treating yourself to yoga classes.

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/yoga/introduction.htm

I had a major realization this week. My right hip has been hurting, and my whole right side… lower back, thigh, neck and arm… has been tight and painful. I went to my chiropractor who is a muscle ninja and acupuncturist.  He spent almost 2 hours working to release a muscle spasm in my psoas muscle. Wow, what a difference.

As it turns out, the psoas muscle is one of the largest muscles in the body! Look at this picture:

Psoas Muscle attaches to back and hip

The psoas muscle can contract and cause lower back pain, upper back and neck pain and affect posture. It can cause hip pain and even restless leg syndrome. A long list of problems may be caused by the psoas: pelvic tilt, leg length discrepancies, kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, sacroiliac pain, sciatica, disc problems, spondylolysis, scoliosis, hip degeneration, knee pain, menstruation pain, infertility, and digestive problems.

The Psoas muscle is such an important muscle in the body, I’m going to have to learn more and address this as a major issue in my healing. I found this book that you might want to read as well: The Psoas Book It is a comprehensive guide to the Iliopsoas muscle that explains its profound influence on the body/mind/emotions and has great exercises for stretching and balancing the psoas.

I’ve spent a lot of hours working at the computer lately. At first, no problem, but over a few days, the aches and pains start. Sitting for long periods at a keyboard usually mean bad posture… hunching over, neck forward, and often one shoulder down lower.

Here are the things you can do for relief from neck and back pain from desk work:

• Take short breaks every hour. Much muscle strain is from holding one position too long. A little movement releases the tension.
• Stretch at your desk. Stretch, yawn, reach for the skies, bend over, anything that feels good to stretch. You can really go for it and stand up to stretch!
• Refresh your posture. Shoulders up and back. Neck back, chin down. Keep checking in on your posture.

All good reminders for me. That’s why I write about this stuff. OK, back to work!

Just as I was counting my blessings, I went down for the count with the creeping crud, starting with one nostril, into the sinuses, the head, the throat, the chest, etc… you get the picture. We have all been there. It is cold and flu season and air-borne illness can become really serious. Mine got worse at first,  then it took a week before I could breath easy again and stop sniffling and coughing. Oooo, that awful croop cough. I coughed so hard I threw my back out, so then getting out of bed and moving around became a problem. See what I mean about down for the count?

So I have two things to talk about here. First is a little primer on everything I know about fighting colds and flu without drugs, and second, what I did to get my back out of pain.

The best thing for colds and flu is to catch it early, at the first sign, when you kinda know you aren’t feeling too good, but don’t really feel sick yet. At this stage you can often ward it off with vitamin C and the herb echinachea. You can also reduce intake of acid-forming foods, most generally meat and dairy. And be sure to get some good rest.

If you miss this early stage as I did, then it is a different scenario. It will have to run it’s course, but you can shorten the course. The most important thing then is to take the herb elderberry, readily available in liquid cough syrups at the health food stores. This is what is in TamiFlu, but at a higher price.

If it goes into your chest, then you need an expectorant, and my favorite is to make fenugreek tea, an herb readily available in bulk since it is used in cooking. There are other expectorants too that are in cough syrups, either herbal or chemical.

Now onto the back pain issue. A nerve was pinched such that my leg was giving out unexpectedly, depending on position. Then it became inflammed and sore since I wasn’t doing anything about it. I finally realized I needed to take action.  I started by taking anti-inflammatory herbs. Then once I was no longer contagious, I went to my favorite chiropractor who greeted me with cheer and healing energy. I was still sore the next day, but the healing had begun and I started doing my stretches. That made a huge difference and within a few days the pain was totally gone.

I’m telling you, this combination of getting help when needed and following the self-help steps on pain-in-my-back.com really does work. Repeatedly, over and over again. It is a matter of taking responsibility for our own health.